I have been lucky enough to spend a few holidays in Iran over the last few years. I have been to amazing forests, deserts and mountains, and I have only seen small parts of the country. From this limited experience of this amazing country I thought I would write about how I remember what I have seen, and the colours of my memories.

As our memories of the smells and tastes of a country are shaped by that country, so are the colours. The colours of buildings, plants, posters and signs are all a result of the physical and social environment they exist in. This is particularly true of Iran.

One thing that is most easily seen by a foreigner in Iran is that there is a visual clarity to the streets. This is partly a result of me not being able to read the language well enough to be understand all that is around me, but also that there are less advertisements, posters, promotions and other visual clutter to be seen. This is not to say that there are no large billboards, there are and some parts of the city could be any other major city in the world. But on a normal street of Tehran, there is a refreshing clarity to what can (and cannot) be seen.

By not having brightly coloured posters lining the streets, it is the buildings that are most prominent. The beige/grey of the stone, cement and plaster can all be seen and it is this that colours my memories of Iran. This dusty beige colour provides a neutral background for everything, on top of this are the bright blues of the mosque tiles, or the bright yellows, reds and greens of shop signs. However, all of these bright colours are seen through a thin layer of dust, whether in the air (which in Tehran is extremely dirty) or settled on a surface. This beige dust mutes these bright colours to something both rich and flat at the same time.

Iran’s population also dresses soberly, certainly by western standards, and the busy streets are a cloud of black, grey and white. If anyone were to dress brightly it would certainly attract attention, and perhaps more. The public environment therefore feels matte with nothing that is too bright or shouts for the attention. This is not to say that it is a visually unspectacular place, it is perhaps more interesting for its lack of colour and polish because it has a stronger and more individual personality.

And so my visual memory of Iran is of bright but dusty colours, on a light beige/grey background which is a very refreshing change to the cluttered and bright streets of London.